A £150m contract with British Gas has helped a North Tyneside-based data-handling firm 4GS generate a growth in turnover of 11.2%

Share

British Gas

A massive contract with British Gas has helped a North Tyneside-based data-handling firm generate a growth in turnover of 11.2%.

G4S Utility and Outsourcing Services signed the seven-year contract, which is worth at least £150m, late last year.

It will establish G4S, which last month relocated to Cobalt Business Park, as the leading provider of utility meter reading services in the UK, looking after the reading and data management of approximately 17 million energy meters.

The contract, previously split between G4S and Siemens Metering Services, will see almost 700 meter operatives transfer across to G4S under TUPE regulations, with the first transfers beginning this week.

The contract, which took effect on Tuesday, has been attributed to G4S’s turnover rise of £11.8m.

G4S also credited continued diversification of its business into wider metering services. The figure is contained in the latest financial statement from the company to the end of December.

Managing director Simon Best said: “The company continues to demonstrate a strong underlying trading performance and diversification of our service offering is helping to generate good turnover growth.

“We remain the largest outsourcing services provider of this type working mainly in gas and electric utility industries.”

G4S employs around 500 people in Cobalt with another 400 in field positions in the North East and North Yorkshire.